Sonic the Hedgehog 4™ Mad Gear Zone
Sonic the Hedgehog 4™ Mad Gear Zone is a level created and published by mul-tec-rnb. It was made as a recreation of Sonic the Hedgehog 4's Mad Gear Zone, keeping the 2.5D perspective of the original game along with Mul's own added twists. It is the successor of Sonic Colours™ Planet Wisp and the predecessor of Sonic Colours™ Tropical Resort. General Follwing Planet Wisp, Mad Gear Zone brings a new view of platforming using the Sonic Elements 1st Edition sackbot and 2.5D per spective in only one layer. The stage is very well designed and like its predecessor, platforming is the main focus (rather than speed). The level starts out at an intermediate pace and goes on to show off the moveset, with the player being required to Boost through blocks, Homing attack enemies and Stomp through boxes. During the playthrough the level becomes more heated as the player faces pistons that crushes Sonic against a wall, various obstacles that require the player to act quickly and alternate routes rewarding points will appear. The gameplay is standard platforming with the creator's own twists utilizing Sonic's moveset to the max. There are walls to run up, enemies to attack and spikes to get killed by (usually if you fail a jump). This is combined with cutting-edge visuals, and details a normal creator wouldn't think of. The environment is more dynamic as red lights blink, warning signals can be heard occasionally and many parts of the level move. The skill required is higher than before, but it doesn't stop it from being enjoyable; who doesn't like a bit of a challenge? But as usual, the attention to detail and the superb design tops everything else in the level. Mul has taken every little piece and remade it in LBP, and here he shows off all of it. The design resembles Mad Gear Zone perfectly, and the use of extra layers gives a nice feeling of depth, as you look into the blurred mechanical madness in the background while Boosting through the stage. With this, creator mul-tec-rnb has shown what ca n be done in a Sonic level, having taken his previous concept and improved it in every way, making it a true Modern looking level. The sackbot now has added effects for its moves, the visuals are sharper than ever before and the dynamic environment merges it all into this astonishing masterpiece. The only problem that players have complained about is the many level links throughout the level that easily cause problems such as disconnection from other players and failing to load. Level links were used to compensate for the high complexity and visual environment of the level, making it longer and giving it a span of 2 stages. This might be one of mul-tec-rnb's best designed levels ever, second only to Tropical Resort. Unfortunately it did not receive as much praise as it deserved. Reception Mad Gear Zone recieved a lot of positive fe edback, but also some negative because of the many level links that easily cause problems such as disconnection from other players and failing to load. It did however, receive over 4,000 plays from the community, not reaching as far as previous levels but still enough to be remembered. LBP2 Level Guide Review Sonic the Hedgehog 4™ Mad Gear Zone is a long and enjoyable adventure through an incredibly well-designed stage, utilising the platforming genre really good combined with some speed sections and Sonic's own moveset which makes the concept more interesting. Despite all the good things about it, I really despise the use of l evel links. Not only do they take time to load but they also cause connection errors and kind of interrupts the flow. That's pretty much the only bad thing about it though, but it plays a major role in the stage which really counts towards my final impression of this level. Seriously, the first level link activates approximately 5 seconds after entering the first level, as it only required you to press a button and jump into an elevator. That's some hardcore thermo problems we have here. Regardless though, on the whole this level is a real improvement from Planet Wisp's slow-paced platforming as it has a lot more speed and combos to perform. The use of the Sonic Elements 1st Edition sackbot has really lifted Mul's level quality considerably. The design here is stunning, every little detail has been perfected and mastered to look even better than the original. And in fact, it does when you boost through the level with blurry machinery in the background blending in with the speed, making the level a real experience. But it does have some problems regarding design, where every sense of level length has been sacrificed for more prettiness. In the first level the thermo has overheated after less than 10 seconds gameplay, and when the level links interrupt the experience I just feel it's a bit too much. I'd rather have some more gameplay and less dedicated design, no, not saying I don't like design, it's just that where simple gameplay is scrapped for better visuals, what the heck, you don't have to have every little detail if it eats up the thermo and ditches the gameplay! To finish this up, I'll say that this would be a really awesome experience if it wasn't for the level links! I'm sure mul-tec-rnb could've put a little less detail into the stage and let it be longer for a better overall impression, because this just isn't enough. My review will end here, and I hope Mul considers changing his view on the prettiness/gameplay preferring scale in later levels. Trivia *There is an "easter egg" in this level, originally not meant to be there. At a certain part of the level, you can fall down between the platform and a moving piston. The creator noticed this, but never fixed it, thereby making it an "easter egg". *This level contains the most level links out of all of mul-tec-rnb's levels. *This level was released at the same time as MMS Sonic Colours - Sweet Mountain. *After this level, mul-tec-rnb decided not to use level links anymore because of the problems they caused. *The Level Badge for this level was designed by Hiromatic. Gallery mgz-introduction stage 1.jpg|Mad Gear Zone Act 1 introduction mgz-introduction stage 2.jpg|Mad Gear Zone Act 2 introduction mad gear zone elevator.jpg|The elevator at the beginning of Act 1 mgz-photo 1.jpg mgz-photo 2.jpg|The 2.5D is backed up by a lively background. mgz-photo 3.jpg|Sonic Boosting through Boost blocks. mgz-photo 4.jpg|Sonic running up a wall. mgz-photo 5.jpg|Sonic about to perform a Homing attack. mgz-photo 6.jpg|Sonic at a Stomping section. mgz-photo 7.jpg mgz-stuck-easteregg.jpg|The "easter egg" implemented by the creator. mad gear zone goal.jpg|The Goal Ring at the end of stage 2. mgz-act1logo.jpg|Mad Gear Zone Act 1 logo mgz-act2logo.jpg|Mad Gear Zone Act 2 logo mad gear zone badge.png|Sonic the Hedgehog 4™ Mad Gear Zone Level Badge; designed by Hiromatic. Category:Sonic Category:Platformer Category:Singleplayer Category:mul-tec-rnb